Wait... is that manbearpig? This week, in the season finale (!!), Erica and Kellie take on the 2018 thriller, Annihilation, in which a biologist, anthropologist, psychologist, surveyor, and linguist enter a mysterious Shimmer world. Tune in to hear your favorite microbiologists (well, maybe -- we don’t know your life) discuss stereotypes in STEM, liquidy metal people, modern dance, ASMR, mysterious mutations, how bad Kellie is at microscopes, HeLa cells, bassnectar, cancer, and so much more. You glitterally won’t believe it.

Here’s that interview we mentioned with the science consultant for the movie, Dr. Adam Rutherford: https://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/annihilation-science-explained-adam-rutherford-alex-garland-1201934047/ And here’s Bobbi Jene Smith’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyXeyqFGAgD1wlkB9WY9_Q

We already love you, but we’d love you even more if you rate our podcast, subscribe, and follow @WIStemPod on Twitter and IG! Email your deepest, darkest secrets to [email protected]. OR, leave us a weird voice memo at https://anchor.fm/wistempod/message, ok??

Do you know analytical geometry? No? Neither do Erica and Kellie.  But Katherine Johnson sure does!  

Listen as they discuss the movie, Hidden Figures, which tells the true stories of the black womxn who helped propel NASA's space program.  Erica and Kellie explore the importance of gender and racial diversity in STEM and the differing expectations of womxn with families in STEM compared to men.  Also Fabio!

Links discussed in this episode include: Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00611-1 Interview with Katherine Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8gJqKyIGhE&t=1206s  Rate, subscribe, and follow @WIStemPod on Twitter and Instagram! Email us your movie suggestions to [email protected] or just tell us what you think about the podcast!

Who was Dian Fossey and what is it that she did?  

Learn all about who this womxn in STEM was (and who she definitely is not), and so much more as Kellie and Erica dive deep into the movie, Gorillas in the Mist, based on the primatologist's autobiographical book with the same name. Listen as they discuss everything from aggressive (often problematic) conservation tactics to gangsta rap in this week's episode!

Visit gorillafund.org or saveagorilla.org to learn more about Dian Fossey's life's work and/or about current mountain gorilla conservation efforts.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, and share!  If you'd like to know what movie to watch next or to just see some awesome posts, follow @WISTEMpod on Twitter and Instagram. Feel free to send your comments as well as your suggestions for any other movies depicting womxn in STEM to [email protected].  And if you're really feeling saucy, send a voice memo via https://anchor.fm/wistempod/message for them to play on a future show!

Something went wrong in the lab today. Very wrong. 

And by “lab,” they apparently mean a gross apartment definitely not approved by IACUC. Erica and Kellie go in on the representation of science + womxn in science (communication) in the 1986 cult classic, The Fly. Topics covered include: imposter syndrome, teleportation, Erica’s bag of crushes, body parts falling off, missense mutations, and magic.

To play along (and to find out which movie they’re watching next), follow @WIStempod on Instagram and Twitter, or send them a dang email: [email protected]. You can also send a voice memo, which they will definitely probably play on a future show: anchor.fm/wistempod/message

Which is more contagious: a mysterious deadly virus or our laughter? Erica and Kellie rigorously fact check the representation of epidemiology, BSL4 etiquette, and, of course, womxn scientists in the 2011 thriller, Contagion. Prepare yourself for a healthy dose of soapbox rants (sorry), as well as discussions about seeing germs everywhere all the time, “bloop”, Kellie’s hatred for U2, Monica’s dad from Friends, close captioning hiccups, and more.  To play along (and to find out which movie they’re watching next), follow @WIStempod on Instagram and Twitter, or send them a dang email: [email protected]. You can also send a voice memo, which they will definitely probably play on a future show: https://anchor.fm/wistempod/message

Hold onto your butts! Microbiologists Erica and Kellie discuss the 1993 classic, Jurassic Park, featuring Laura Dern as badass paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler. This episode, they cover dinosaur calls, lizard menstrual cycles, sexism, poop, more poop, Jeff Goldblum's chest, and, as always, representation of womxn in STEM on the big screen.

To play along (and to find out which movie they're watching next!), follow @WIStemPod on Instagram and Twitter, or send them a dang email: [email protected]

You can also send a voice memo, which they will definitely probably play on a future show: https://anchor.fm/wistempod/message 

Join microbiologists Kellie Vinal and Erica Bizzell as they examine the representation (or lack thereof) of womxn in STEM in movies! In this episode you'll get a glimpse of what you can expect from this often funny, sometimes serious, occasionally educational exploration of the films that we love (or love to hate)!

Please send your movie suggestions to [email protected] and follow @WIStemPod on Instagram and Twitter 

Theme music by: Zach Ende